Council Directive 94/57/EC on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organizations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations.

This Directive establishes measures to be followed by the Member States and organizations concerned with the inspection, survey and certification of ships for compliance with the international conventions on safety at sea and prevention of marine pollution. Member States shall ensure that their competent administrations can assure an appropriate enforcement of the provisions of the relevant international conventions (particularly the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), in particular with regard to the inspection and survey of ships and the issue of certificates and exemption certificates. Each Member State must satisfy itself that the recognized organizations acting on its behalf for the purpose of article 3 (2), effectively carry out the functions referred therein to the satisfaction of its competent administration and that such organizations fulfill the criteria specified in the Annex.